Wednesday, July 30, 2008

There are many good people spreading a lot of good messages of liberty and justice.

But trillions of dollars of investment capital is working against us and powering efforts to undermine freedom and justice. Specifically, trillions are invested into defense companies who push for new wars, and companies that torture on behalf of the U.S., and companies that spy on us, and companies that drive up food prices, destroy food safety, kill bees, and otherwise mess with our food supply.

In other words, all of the talk in the world won't turn things around if all of the money is working against what we're demanding.

Millions of us raised our voices and demanded that the U.S. not launch the Iraq war. Millions of us wrote to Congress and demanded that Bush and Cheney be impeached. But Congress listened to the large defense contractors and other well-financed companies (and flush lobbying groups, such as AIPAC), not to the American people. Actions speak louder than words, and money is

The Good News

The good news is that not all of the people investing the trillions of dollars are bad people. In fact, as of 2003, $2.16 trillion dollars - or 1 out of 9 dollars invested - was invested with the intent to be "socially responsible". That is 240% more than in 1997, when attempts at socially responsible investing totaled $529 billion dollars. The numbers are still increasing.

There are now numerous large mutual funds and other investment vehicles focusing on socially responsible investing (many of them get returns comparable to mainstream investments).

Some of the trillions invested through "socially responsible investing" (SRI) programs focus on big-picture issues like not investing in defense industry (others focus on things like tobacco, or wages). The motto of socially responsible investing is "doing well by doing good".

"Thanks in part to the work of concerned investors, thousands of companies worldwide are publishing corporate social responsibility reports that lay out their codes of conduct, describe their progress on various issues and reveal where their products originate and who makes them. "

So there is a lot of money and a lot of interest flowing into investments which will do no harm, and maybe some good.

The Bad News

A lot of the social responsibility movement is a scam. A 2004 study found that the SRI industry has no standards or definitions, is unregulated and too often invests in the same companies as non-SRI mutual funds. Indeed, the study concludes that:

"The screening methodologies and exceptions employed by most SRI mutual funds allow practically any publicly-held company to be considered as an SRI portfolio company."

For example, one SRI mutual fund invests in "hiqh-quality growth stocks with no investments in the tobacco, alcohol, gambling, or pharmaceutical companies". That doesn't necessarily mean they don't invest in Halliburton. Another may stay away from defense companies, but that doesn't mean that they don't invest in companies that spy on Americans.

"As of December 30, 2003, 23 SRI funds are invested in Haliburton . . . weapons manufacturer Raytheon was held by 12 funds; ExxonMobil was held by 40 SRI funds; and Monsanto, maker of genetically modified seeds and Round Up weed killer, was held by 19 SRI funds."

As entrepreneur and activist Paul Hawken notes, 'The term socially responsible investing is so broad it is meaningless. If a fund doesn't own companies involved with gambling and pornography, it can be called socially responsible."

(You can research what criteria or "screens" self-proclaimed SRI companies use here.)

And as for corporate social responsibility reporting by corporations, this is obviously largely motivated by acting like the company is doing good so as to attract customers and employees.

Harnessing Investments for Good

The important thing to note is thetrend for people to want to do the right thing, and the trillions of dollars which investors are willing to put towards that goal. In other words, the fact that most of the social responsibility professionals are scammers (although there are some good ones) does not mean that the desire among investors to do good isn't there. It only means that unscrupulous people are trying to take advantage of the gullible (surprise surprise).

If we can harness the desire among trillion dollar investors to do good, it could go a long way towards supporting our struggle for liberty and justice. Specifically, if financial experts within the 9/11 truth, anti-war, impeachment, anti-torture and other patriotic movements set up socially responsible investment companies which can get reasonable returns for investors investing in things which promote our causes, then things could dramatically change for the better . . . since huge amounts of money would be working for our causes, instead of against them.

Instead, we need experts, visionaries and passionate activists to figure out how it can work and to make it happen.

My initial thoughts (I'm not an expert in any relevant area) are that we need a focused and coordinated effort to get this off the ground, including:

Seasoned investment advisors, mutual fund managers, stock screeners and like experts starting new socially responsible investment companies which focus on the real and important issues, like liberty and justice. Or else taking over established companies to get them back on the straight and narrow, and focusing them on the most important issues of liberty, justice and truth. (There should also be a requirement that some leading activists in the relevant fields be on the board of directors, so that the money people don't get off track)

Those who can get the word out (owners of popular websites, widely-read writers, etc.) spreading the word about the power of socially responsible investing to put wind in the sails of activist efforts

Those who have squirreled away some savings should invest a little bit of our money in these programs (they'll hopefully pay a good return; even if they don't, we can take a little of the money we were going to invest in gold or other allegedly safe investments to promote liberty, justice and truth)

Activists for freedom, justice and truth should be supported. For example, if a 9/11 activist can make enough money with his website, video, or books to quit his day job and focus on activism full-time, more power to him. Anyone who criticizes an activist for being able to support herself in that role is either a disinfo shill (it is usually apologists for the tyrants who raise such criticism) or out of touch with reality. Personally, I have a day job, and I don't get paid a dime for my activism. But I support people who do.

Catherine Austin Fitts (managing director and director of the Wall Street investment bank Dillon, Read & Co. Inc., Assistant Secretary of Housing/Federal Housing Commissioner at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and president of Hamilton Securities Group, Inc., an investment bank) has written along these lines (see this, this and this). Fitts knows a lot more about investing than I do, but so far she has not been very direct in how to set up investment systems which will help promote liberty and justice. Fitts claims that the government has put a gag order on her, so that she can't say what she knows. If that is true, it becomes even more important for a wide group of experts on money and investing - who aren't gagged - to get active with creating systems of social investment which can improve our country.

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